Symbolism in lord of the flies
...vor in society. (SparkNotes paragraph 8) This is most clearly demonstrated when Piggy's glasses are used to make fire by intensifying sunlight with their lenses. Thus, when Jack's hunters raid Ralph's camp and steal the glasses, the savages have taken the power to make fire, and Ralph's civilization is left helpless. The signal fire burns on the mountain, and later on the beach, to attract the notice of passing ships that might be able to rescue the boys. As a result, the signal fire becomes a symbol for the boys' connection to civilization.(SparkNotes paragraph 9) “ The fire is the most important thing on the island. How can we ever be rescued except by luck, if we don’t want to keep the fire going? Is a fire too much for us to make?” (Lord Of The Flies p.80) As long as the fire is well maintained, the boys exhibit a desire to return to society, however, when the fire burns out, the boys lose sight of their infatuation to be rescued, having accepted their savage lives on the island. The signal fire thus functions as a kind of measuring stick by which the strength of the civilized instinct on the island can be judged. Ironically, at the end of the novel, a fire finally summons a ship to the island, but not the signal fire. Instead it is the fire of savagery—the forest fire Jack starts as part of his quest to hunt and kill Ralph. (SparkNotes) One of the most important symbols of the novel, the imaginary beast, which frightens all the boys, stands for the primal instinct of savagery that exists within all human beings. (SparkNotes paragraph 10) The boys are terrified of the thought of a beast, However only Simon realizes that the fear they are experiencing is the only the fear that exists within each of them. "What I mean is ... Maybe it's only us..." (Lord Of The Flies pg.89) Simon's statement that the boys themselves are the beast is central to the novel's theme of innate human evil. This is the first moment in which the beast is explained not as an external force but as a component of human nature. As the boys grow more and more savage, their belief in the beast grows stronger and more pronounced. By the end of the novel, they are leaving it sacrifices and treating it as a totemic god. Because the boys' behavior is what brings the beast into existence, so the more savagely they act, the more real the beast seems to become. (SparkNotes paragraph 10) The Lord of the Flies is also an important key to this puzzle of symbolism. The bloody sow's head that Jack impales on a stake in the forest as an offering to the beast. This complicated symbol becomes the most important image in the novel when Simon confronts it in the glade and it seems to speak to him, telling him that evil lies within every human heart and promising to have some "fun" with him. (SparkNotes paragraph 11)” “There isn't anyone to help you. Only me. And I'm the Beast ... Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill! ... You knew, didn't you? I'm part of you? Close, close, close! I'm the reason why it's no go? Why things are the way they are?" (Lord Of The Flies pg.143) The Lord of the Flies speaks these lines to Simon in Chapter 8. The Lord of the Flies identifies itself as the beast and acknowledges to Simon that it exists within all human beings. "You knew...